Officer leaves Gaffney PD

A Gaffney police officer whose handling of several arrests in a nightclub last December is under review by SLED has retired from the force.

Police Chief John O'Donald and City Administrator James Taylor both confirmed Sgt. Scott Tallent's retirement Monday morning.

SLED was asked to look into a Dec. 16, 2007, incident inside Benna's Sports Club after O'Donald received several complaints about the officer's use of force during his arrest of three men. The officer used both pepper spray and his police baton during the incident, writing in a police report that he was forced to defend himself after being assaulted.

Some witness accounts differed, though, and a number of patrons said they were left choking on pepper spray before the incident ended.

There's been no word yet from SLED and O'Donald said Monday he was unaware if the state investigators had made any decisions.